Goal-based connection management between parties

ABSTRACT

A monitoring computer system receives a message, from a first party, which identifies a goal of the first party. The monitoring computer system receives an identity of a second party that has been selected by the first party to assist the first party in achieving the identified goal of the first party. An electronic communication connection is created for electronic communications between the first party and the second party, wherein the electronic communications are related to accomplishing the goal of the first party. The electronic communications between the first party and the second party are monitored by executing message analytics to determine a status of the goal of the first party. In response to determining that the goal of the first party has reached a predefined status, a predefined action that has been associated with the predefined status of the goal is executed.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure relates to the field of communication networks,and specifically to selectively establishing communication networks.Still more particularly, the present disclosure relates to establishingcommunication networks based on established goals of communicatingparties.

Online social networks are a mechanism to connect people and informationin logical and organized ways, while enabling sharing and processing ofinformation between the users. The most common mechanisms of sharing andprocessing information are an inbox (for e-mail), a wall (comments madeabout a particular item in a social network webpage), an activity stream(describing activities of an owner of a social network webpage), and aprofile (of the user of a social media webpage). These mechanisms enableone to rapidly share information with others and gather information fromothers in the networks.

With the rise of business users who use the online social networks,there is an additional layer of complexity to distribute news and workitems to the right people at the right time. The distribution requires astrong and effective online social network. Business users who establishand build strong effective social networks have curated their socialnetworks through extensive work and time spent. As a user's job evolves,the online social networks require curation to make sure the socialnetworks are current, dynamic, effective, and not overwhelming.

SUMMARY

In one or more embodiments of the present invention, a method, computerprogram product, and/or computer system manages electronic communicationconnections. A monitoring computer system receives a message, from afirst party, which identifies a goal of the first party. The monitoringcomputer system receives an identity of a second party that has beenselected by the first party to assist the first party in achieving theidentified goal of the first party. An electronic communicationconnection is created for electronic communications between the firstparty and the second party, wherein the electronic communications arerelated to accomplishing the goal of the first party. The electroniccommunications between the first party and the second party aremonitored by executing message analytics to determine a status of thegoal of the first party. In response to determining that the goal of thefirst party has reached a predefined status, a predefined action thathas been associated with the predefined status of the goal is executed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 depicts an exemplary system and network in which the presentdisclosure may be implemented;

FIG. 2 is a high level flow-chart of one or more operations performed byone or more hardware devices to manage electronic communicationconnections based on set goals; and

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary user interface with which the presentinvention may be implemented.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention may be a system, a method, and/or a computerprogram product. The computer program product may include a computerreadable storage medium (or media) having computer readable programinstructions thereon for causing a processor to carry out aspects of thepresent invention.

The computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that canretain and store instructions for use by an instruction executiondevice. The computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but isnot limited to, an electronic storage device, a magnetic storage device,an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storage device, asemiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination of theforegoing. A non-exhaustive list of more specific examples of thecomputer readable storage medium includes the following: a portablecomputer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), aread-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROMor Flash memory), a static random access memory (SRAM), a portablecompact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk (DVD),a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanically encoded device such aspunch-cards or raised structures in a groove having instructionsrecorded thereon, and any suitable combination of the foregoing. Acomputer readable storage medium, as used herein, is not to be construedas being transitory signals per se, such as radio waves or other freelypropagating electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic waves propagatingthrough a waveguide or other transmission media (e.g., light pulsespassing through a fiber-optic cable), or electrical signals transmittedthrough a wire.

Computer readable program instructions described herein can bedownloaded to respective computing/processing devices from a computerreadable storage medium or to an external computer or external storagedevice via a network, for example, the Internet, a local area network, awide area network and/or a wireless network. The network may comprisecopper transmission cables, optical transmission fibers, wirelesstransmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers and/oredge servers. A network adapter card or network interface in eachcomputing/processing device receives computer readable programinstructions from the network and forwards the computer readable programinstructions for storage in a computer readable storage medium withinthe respective computing/processing device.

Computer readable program instructions for carrying out operations ofthe present invention may be assembler instructions,instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions,machine dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions,state-setting data, or either source code or object code written in anycombination of one or more programming languages, including an objectoriented programming language such as Java, Smalltalk, C++ or the like,and conventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C”programming language or similar programming languages. The computerreadable program instructions may execute entirely on the user'scomputer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone softwarepackage, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computeror entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario,the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through anytype of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide areanetwork (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer(for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider).In some embodiments, electronic circuitry including, for example,programmable logic circuitry, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA), orprogrammable logic arrays (PLA) may execute the computer readableprogram instructions by utilizing state information of the computerreadable program instructions to personalize the electronic circuitry,in order to perform aspects of the present invention.

Aspects of the present invention are described herein with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of theinvention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer readable program instructions.

These computer readable program instructions may be provided to aprocessor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, orother programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, suchthat the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computeror other programmable data processing apparatus, create means forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks. These computer readable program instructionsmay also be stored in a computer readable storage medium that can directa computer, a programmable data processing apparatus, and/or otherdevices to function in a particular manner, such that the computerreadable storage medium having instructions stored therein comprises anarticle of manufacture including instructions which implement aspects ofthe function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram blockor blocks.

The computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto acomputer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other deviceto cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer,other programmable apparatus or other device to produce a computerimplemented process, such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer, other programmable apparatus, or other device implement thefunctions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block orblocks.

With reference now to the figures, and in particular to FIG. 1, there isdepicted a block diagram of an exemplary system and network that may beutilized by and/or in the implementation of the present invention. Notethat some or all of the exemplary architecture, including both depictedhardware and software, shown for and within computer 102 may be utilizedby software deploying server 150 and/or a first monitored system 152and/or a second monitored system 154.

Exemplary computer 102 includes a processor 104 that is coupled to asystem bus 106. Processor 104 may utilize one or more processors, eachof which has one or more processor cores. A video adapter 108, whichdrives/supports a display 110, is also coupled to system bus 106. Systembus 106 is coupled via a bus bridge 112 to an input/output (I/O) bus114. An I/O interface 116 is coupled to I/O bus 114. I/O interface 116affords communication with various I/O devices, including a keyboard118, a mouse 120, a media tray 122 (which may include storage devicessuch as CD-ROM drives, multi-media interfaces, etc.), and external USBport(s) 126. While the format of the ports connected to I/O interface116 may be any known to those skilled in the art of computerarchitecture, in one embodiment some or all of these ports are universalserial bus (USB) ports.

As depicted, computer 102 is able to communicate with a softwaredeploying server 150, using a network interface 130. Network interface130 is a hardware network interface, such as a network interface card(NIC), etc. Network 128 may be an external network such as the Internet,or an internal network such as an Ethernet or a virtual private network(VPN).

A hard drive interface 132 is also coupled to system bus 106. Hard driveinterface 132 interfaces with a hard drive 134. In one embodiment, harddrive 134 populates a system memory 136, which is also coupled to systembus 106. System memory is defined as a lowest level of volatile memoryin computer 102. This volatile memory includes additional higher levelsof volatile memory (not shown), including, but not limited to, cachememory, registers and buffers. Data that populates system memory 136includes computer 102's operating system (OS) 138 and applicationprograms 144.

OS 138 includes a shell 140, for providing transparent user access toresources such as application programs 144. Generally, shell 140 is aprogram that provides an interpreter and an interface between the userand the operating system. More specifically, shell 140 executes commandsthat are entered into a command line user interface or from a file.Thus, shell 140, also called a command processor, is generally thehighest level of the operating system software hierarchy and serves as acommand interpreter. The shell provides a system prompt, interpretscommands entered by keyboard, mouse, or other user input media, andsends the interpreted command(s) to the appropriate lower levels of theoperating system (e.g., a kernel 142) for processing. Note that whileshell 140 is a text-based, line-oriented user interface, the presentinvention will equally well support other user interface modes, such asgraphical, voice, gestural, etc.

As depicted, OS 138 also includes kernel 142, which includes lowerlevels of functionality for OS 138, including providing essentialservices required by other parts of OS 138 and application programs 144,including memory management, process and task management, diskmanagement, and mouse and keyboard management.

Application programs 144 include a renderer, shown in exemplary manneras a browser 146. Browser 146 includes program modules and instructionsenabling a world wide web (WWW) client (i.e., computer 102) to send andreceive network messages to the Internet using hypertext transferprotocol (HTTP) messaging, thus enabling communication with softwaredeploying server 150 and other computer systems.

Application programs 144 in computer 102's system memory (as well assoftware deploying server 150's system memory) also include a Goal-BasedConnection Management Logic (GBCML) 148. GBCML 148 includes code forimplementing the processes described below, including those described inFIGS. 2-3. In one embodiment, computer 102 is able to download GBCML 148from software deploying server 150, including in an on-demand basis,wherein the code in GBCML 148 is not downloaded until needed forexecution. Note further that, in one embodiment of the presentinvention, software deploying server 150 performs all of the functionsassociated with the present invention (including execution of GBCML148), thus freeing computer 102 from having to use its own internalcomputing resources to execute GBCML 148.

Note that the hardware elements depicted in computer 102 are notintended to be exhaustive, but rather are representative to highlightessential components required by the present invention. For instance,computer 102 may include alternate memory storage devices such asmagnetic cassettes, digital versatile disks (DVDs), Bernoullicartridges, and the like. These and other variations are intended to bewithin the spirit and scope of the present invention.

With reference now to FIG. 2, a high level flow-chart of one or moreoperations performed by one or more hardware devices to manageconnections based on set goals is presented.

After initiator block 202, a monitoring computer system receives amessage from a first party, wherein the message identifies a goal of thefirst party (block 204). For example, the message may be an e-mailmessage, a posting on a “wall” in a social media website (i.e., commentson a particular subject), an entry in an activity stream (i.e., alisting of activities being performed by the user of a social mediawebsite), a profile description that includes accomplishments of thehost of a social media website, etc.

The goal of the first party may be selected from a menu, or may becustom-entered. For example, consider user interface 302 in FIG. 3. Userinterface 302 may be a user interface (UI) for an e-mail program, asocial media webpage, and instant messaging application, etc. As shownin field 304, the user is able to select particular goals that he/shewants to achieve. In an embodiment in which the first party is using thefirst monitored system 152 shown in FIG. 1, these user-selected goal(s)are received by the monitoring computer system (e.g., computer 102 inFIG. 1), which monitors communication traffic, postings on a socialmedia webpage, and other electronic entries made by the user of thefirst monitored system 152.

As described in block 204, the monitoring computer system then receivesan identity of a second party that has been selected by the first partyto assist the first party in achieving the identified goal of the firstparty. Returning again to FIG. 3, the field 304 also allows the firstparty to identify who will be working with her/him to achieve her/hisgoal(s). This identity may be an e-mail address, a personal name (whichcan be linked to e-mail addresses, webpages, social media websites, etc.for that second party), etc. In an embodiment in which the second partyis using the second monitored system 154 shown in FIG. 2, this allowsthe monitoring computer system (e.g., computer 102 in FIG. 1) to monitorcommunication traffic, postings on a social media webpage, and otherelectronic entries made by the user of the second monitored system 154.

As described in block 208 of FIG. 2, the monitoring computer system thencreates an electronic communication connection (e.g., via a socialnetwork) for electronic communications between the first party and thesecond party, wherein the electronic communications are related toaccomplishing the goal of the first party. For example, assume that thefirst party and the second party are both members of a social mediaservice, but are not currently linked together in a group, as “friends”,etc. More specifically, even if the first party and the second party areassociated via the social media service, the social media service mayoffer a private relationship between two parties. As such, themonitoring computer system will automatically create such a privaterelationship group between only the first party and the second party,based on the information received during the activities described inblock 204 and block 206. That is, the monitoring computer systemdetermines, through data mining and data analytics, that 1) the firstparty has a certain goal, and 2) that the second party will be helpingthe first party reach that goal. Based on this information, themonitoring computer system sets up the first party and the second partyin a new private group on the social media website.

As described in block 210 of FIG. 2, the monitoring computer system thenmonitors the electronic communications between the first party and thesecond party, wherein said monitoring executes message analytics todetermine a status of the goal of the first party. That is, electroniccommunications (or a lack thereof) will indicate that the goal has beenachieved, is progressing according to schedule, is behind schedule, hasbeen abandoned, has been changed, etc.

For example, assume that the first party's goal was to complete acertification program for a particular technology, and that the secondparty will mentor the first party through this process. Electroniccommunications (e-mail, social media postings, etc.) between the twoparties indicates the status of the first party reaching this goal. Keywords such as “completed”, when taken in context, may indicate that thegoal has been reached. Other key words such as “quit” may be interpretedas the goal being abandoned. Other key words such as “change” mayindicate that the first party has decided to be certified in anotherprogram, rather than the first certification program.

As described in block 212 of FIG. 2, in response to determining that thegoal of the first party has reached a predefined status, the monitoringcomputer system executes a predefined action that has been associatedwith the predefined status of the goal. The flow-chart ends atterminator block 214.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the predefined action is todisplay the predefined status of the goal to the first party and to thesecond party. For example, assume that there are ten steps to reaching aparticular goal, such as being certified in a particular operatingsystem. Each time the first party completes one of the ten steps, thenewly-completed step is displayed to the first party and/or the secondparty on a user-interface, such as a dashboard (e.g., a user interfacethat provides a summary of activities). In one embodiment, the statusupdate includes color coded indicators of completed steps, plus colorcoded indicators of incomplete steps that still need to be accomplishedin order to reach the first party's goal.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the predefined status is acompletion of the goal. In this embodiment, completing the goal resultsin the monitoring computer system disconnecting the electroniccommunication connection between the first party and the second party.That is, once the goal is reached, then the communication connection(e.g., membership in a special “group” on a social media website) isterminated.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the message analyticsidentifies key words in the electronic communications that are relatedto the goal of the first party. In response to determining, by themonitoring computer system, that a quantity of the key words in theelectronic communications between the first party and the second partyfalls below a predetermined frequency over a predefined period of time,the electronic communication connection between the first party and thesecond party is disconnected. For example, assume that the first partywants to be certified in “Program A”. Electronic communications betweenthe first party and his/her mentor (the second party) would likelycontain references to “Program A”. However, if no mention is made of“Program A” within some predefined period of time, then an assumption ismade that the first party is no longer interested in (or workingtowards) reaching his/her goal of being certified in “Program A”. Thisassumption leads the monitoring computer system to automaticallyterminate the special electronic communication connection (e.g., asocial media wall, group, etc.) that was created for the goal of helpingthe first party reach his/her goal of being certified in “Program A”.

Similarly, in an embodiment of the present invention, the monitoringcomputer system receives a goal abandonment message from the firstparty, wherein the goal abandonment message identifies an abandonment ofthe goal by the first party. In response to receiving the goalabandonment message from the first party, the monitoring computer systemdisconnects the electronic communication connection between the firstparty and the second party. That is, if the first party expressly states(e.g., through the UI 302 shown in FIG. 3) that he/she no longer wantsto be certified in “Program A”, then the monitoring computer system willautomatically terminate the special electronic communication connection(e.g., a social media wall, group, etc.) that was created for the goalof helping the first party reach his/her goal of being certified in“Program A”.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the message analyticsidentifies key words in the electronic communications that are relatedto the goal of the first party. In response to determining, by themonitoring computer system, that a quantity of key words in theelectronic communications between the first party and the second partyfalls below a predetermined frequency over a predefined period of time,a new electronic communication connection between the first party and athird party that has been predetermined to be able to assist the firstparty in reaching the goal of the first party is established. Again,assume that the first party wants to be certified in “Program A”.Electronic communications between the first party and his/her mentor(the second party) would likely contain references to “Program A”.However, if no mention is made of “Program A” within some predefinedperiod of time, then an assumption is made that the second party is nolonger helping the first party reach his/her goal of being certified in“Program A”. This assumption leads the monitoring computer system toautomatically generate a new electronic communication connection (e.g.,a social media wall, group, etc.) with a new party (“third party”), whowill now help the first party reach his/her goal of being certified in“Program A”.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the monitoring computersystem monitors public message postings by the first party, wherein saidmonitoring executes message analytics to further determine the status ofthe goal of the first party. That is, the present invention firstmonitors communications between the first party (who wants to reach acertain goal) and his/her mentor (the second party) in order todetermine the status of how close the first party is to reaching his/herstated goal. However, another indicator of this status is to monitorother public message postings (e.g., tags on a photo, other social mediapostings, blog postings, etc.) to determine this status. For example, ifthe first party posts on a public asynchronous social media site (thatallows anyone to follow his/her activities) that he/she is “90% completein being certified in Program A”, then this information is used tofurther determine the status of the goal of the first party in reachinghis/her goal.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the monitoring computersystem presents a set of predefined goals and a goal entry field to thefirst party, and then receives a blend of user-selected goals from thepredefined goals and a goal entry from the goal entry field as the goalof the first party. That is, as shown in FIG. 3, the first party mayselect one or more goals from a predefined menu of goals, add anothergoal of his/her own drafting, and then combined the menu-provided anduser-drafted goals into a blended goal. For example, the menu-providedgoals may be “Be certified in Operating System A” and “Learn how toprogram in C++”. The user-drafted goal may be “Move to Colorado”. Thesethree goals are then combined into a blended goal, which may be achievedwith the help of one or more mentors (second parties).

In an embodiment of the present invention, the monitoring computersystem determines that the first party and the second party have failedto exchange electronic communications during a predefined period oftime. In response to the monitoring computer system determining that thefirst party and the second party have failed to exchange electroniccommunications during the predefined period of time, a message istransmitted to the first party and the second party indicating that thegoal of the first party has been reached. That is, in this embodiment,if there are no more messages about “Program A” between the first partyand the second party over the course of some predefined period of time(e.g., the past three months), then an assumption is made that the firstparty has become certified in “Program A”, and a message is transmittedto the second party (with a courtesy copy to the first party) indicatingthat the first party is now certified in “Program A”, and thus hasreached her/his goal.

Exemplary Use Case:

Assume now that Alice, Bob, Charlie and Dave are members of an onlinesocial network, and that Alice, Bob, and Charlie are connected to oneanother. Assume further that Alice chooses to connect with Dave.

The monitoring computer system prompts Alice to select a goal forconnecting with Dave. Alice then enters “Solve Project A”. Alice andDave communicate back and forth on Project A. The monitoring computersystem detects traffic which matches the profiles for “Project A” and“Solve”. That is, electronic communication traffic (e-mail, websitepostings, social media walls, etc.) are analyzed. If Alice mentions“Solved Project A” or closes off some activity (e.g., terminates a“group” in her social media webpage), this indicates that that projectis complete (and thus the goal has been reached). In one or moreembodiments, the monitoring computer system then prompts Alice to see ifthe system should remove the Alice and Dave connection.

In one or more embodiments of the present invention, an online socialnetwork is used by the parties to communicate with one another. Theconnections between the parties may be symmetric (i.e., such that twoparties are able to send messages back and forth between the twoparties), or asymmetric (i.e., a second party only sends messages and afirst party only receives messages from the second party, or viceversa).

As described herein, the parties communicate (either symmetrically orasymmetrically) via messages to an entire social network (e.g., a“public” posting), or to part of a social network (i.e., to a privatelist, circle, or specific group).

The social network enables users to share active content (e.g.,indicators that a user “likes” a posting, active links that take a user,via a linked universal resource locator (URL), to another webpage orother resource); textual content (i.e., formatted or unformatted textdescribing what a person is doing/working on); etc.

As described herein, the user connects with another user. The user isprompted to enter a goal. The goals are free formed and/or from a presetlist (e.g., “Complete a Sale for Company X”, “Improve Career Elements”,etc.). In one or more embodiments, the goals are a combination of freeformed descriptions of a goal and/or menu-offered goals. For example,assume that the user is presented with the goal “Make a Sale for CompanyX”. This goal links to a formal natural language description, whichinterprets “Make a Sale for Company X” by extracting key terms (e.g.,“Make”, “Sale”, “Company X”).

In one or more embodiments of the present invention, goals are storedper connection. That is, each electronic communication connection may bedevoted to a particular goal. Thus, when the goal is reached, theelectronic communication connection is terminated.

Similarly, goals may be applied to a subset of a network. That is,assume that different pathways in a network go to different resources.For example, one electronic communication connection is to a personal(non-business related) social media website, while another electroniccommunication connection is to a professional (business related) socialmedia website. Once the goal of the first party and the mentor (secondparty) for reaching that goal are identified, the monitoring computersystem creates a special electronic pathway between the first party andthe second party depending on whether the goal is personal orprofessional. That is, if the goal is “I want to lose weight”, then themonitoring computer system creates a special electronic pathway betweenthe first party and the second party via a personal (non-business)social media website. However, if the goal is “I want to prepare for thejob of being manager of my department at work”, then the monitoringcomputer system creates a special electronic pathway between the firstparty and the second party via a professional (business) social mediawebsite.

The goal of the first party may be secret or open, personal or public,bidirectional or unidirectional. The goals may be progressive (e.g.,Goals—Goal 1 reached, Work on goal 2).

As described herein, the present invention monitors online socialnetwork traffic. In one or more embodiments of the present invention,this network traffic is classified by its content. If the contentcontains similar or related text to the text in the goals, then it isadded to the evidence that the goal is being met.

As described herein, one or more embodiments of the invention determinewhether or not there is a high confidence level of the goal being met.This high confidence level may be according to how many classified postsare posted by the first party; how recent such posts by the first partyare (e.g., if the posts are “stale”, then an assumption is made thatprogress towards reaching the goal has stalled); an overlap between theposts and the description of the goal (i.e., how closely the terms inthe posts and the goal match); etc.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the user is prompted toselect an action based on the goal being achieved. That is, if themonitoring computer system determines that a next step needs to beperformed in order to continue to move toward a goal, that step may beprompted to the first party. For example, the monitoring computer systemmay prompt the first party with a message “It is time to completeChapter 2 in your course syllabus”).

As described herein, the first party's goal may be deferred or changed;electronic communication connections may be removed (based on the statusof whether or not the goal has or is being reached); etc. In oneembodiment, the present invention automatically removes the electroniccommunication connection based on the time since the goal was lastdiscussed.

The present invention may prompt the user to change the update andfrequency of updates displayed by the person. Similarly, the presentinvention may label a goal as stagnant, and look for similar goals andintroduce people with similar goals.

In one or more embodiments, the present invention manages online socialnetworks by: prompting the user to select a goal for a social networkconnection monitoring the user's social network interactions; and/ordetermining the status of the goal in relation to the interactionsmanaging the network connection based on the status.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present disclosure. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof code, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). It should also be notedthat, in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in theblock may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, twoblocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantiallyconcurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverseorder, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be notedthat each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, andcombinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchartillustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-basedsystems that perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations ofspecial purpose hardware and computer instructions.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the presentinvention. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” areintended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearlyindicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms“comprises” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification,specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations,elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence oraddition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations,elements, components, and/or groups thereof.

The corresponding structures, materials, acts, and equivalents of allmeans or step plus function elements in the claims below are intended toinclude any structure, material, or act for performing the function incombination with other claimed elements as specifically claimed. Thedescription of various embodiments of the present invention has beenpresented for purposes of illustration and description, but is notintended to be exhaustive or limited to the present invention in theform disclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent tothose of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope andspirit of the present invention. The embodiment was chosen and describedin order to best explain the principles of the present invention and thepractical application, and to enable others of ordinary skill in the artto understand the present invention for various embodiments with variousmodifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated.

Note further that any methods described in the present disclosure may beimplemented through the use of a VHDL (VHSIC Hardware DescriptionLanguage) program and a VHDL chip. VHDL is an exemplary design-entrylanguage for Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), ApplicationSpecific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), and other similar electronicdevices. Thus, any software-implemented method described herein may beemulated by a hardware-based VHDL program, which is then applied to aVHDL chip, such as a FPGA.

Having thus described embodiments of the present invention of thepresent application in detail and by reference to illustrativeembodiments thereof, it will be apparent that modifications andvariations are possible without departing from the scope of the presentinvention defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method for managingelectronic communication connections, the computer-implemented methodcomprising: receiving, by a monitoring computer system, a message from afirst party, wherein the message identifies a goal of the first party;receiving, by the monitoring computer system, an identity of a secondparty that has been selected by the first party to assist the firstparty in achieving the identified goal of the first party; creating, bythe monitoring computer system, an electronic communication connectionfor electronic communications between the first party and the secondparty, wherein the electronic communications are related toaccomplishing the goal of the first party; monitoring, by the monitoringcomputer system, the electronic communications between the first partyand the second party, wherein said monitoring executes message analyticsto determine a status of the goal of the first party, and wherein themessage analytics identifies key words in the electronic communicationsthat are related to the goal of the first party; in response todetermining that the goal of the first party has reached a predefinedstatus, executing, by the monitoring computer system, a predefinedaction that has been associated with the predefined status of the goal;and in response to determining, by the monitoring computer system, thata quantity of the key words in the electronic communications between thefirst party and the second party falls below a predetermined frequencyover a predefined period of time, disconnecting the electroniccommunication connection between the first party and the second party.2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the electroniccommunication connection is via a social network for electroniccommunications.
 3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, whereinthe predefined action is to display the predefined status of the goal tothe first party and to the second party.
 4. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 1, wherein the predefined status is a completion of thegoal.
 5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4, further comprising:disconnecting the electronic communication connection between the firstparty and the second party.
 6. The computer-implemented method of claim1, wherein the message analytics identifies key words in the electroniccommunications that are related to the goal of the first party, andwherein the computer-implemented method further comprises: in responseto determining, by the monitoring computer system, that a quantity ofkey words in the electronic communications between the first party andthe second party falls below a predetermined frequency over a predefinedperiod of time, establishing a new electronic communication connectionbetween the first party and a third party that has been predetermined tobe able to assist the first party in reaching the goal of the firstparty.
 7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, furthercomprising: monitoring, by the monitoring computer system, publicmessage postings by the first party, wherein said monitoring executesmessage analytics to further determine the status of the goal of thefirst party.
 8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, furthercomprising: receiving, by the monitoring computer system, a goalabandonment message from the first party, wherein the goal abandonmentmessage identifies an abandonment of the goal by the first party; and inresponse to receiving the goal abandonment message from the first party,disconnecting, by the monitoring computer system, the electroniccommunication connection between the first party and the second party.9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:presenting, by the monitoring computer system, a set of predefined goalsand a goal entry field to the first party; and receiving a blend ofuser-selected goals from the predefined goals and a goal entry from thegoal entry field as the goal of the first party.
 10. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: determining,by the monitoring computer system, that the first party and the secondparty have failed to exchange electronic communications during apredefined period of time; and in response to the monitoring computersystem determining that the first party and the second party have failedto exchange electronic communications during the predefined period oftime, transmitting a message to the first party and the second partyindicating that the goal of the first party has been reached.
 11. Acomputer program product for managing electronic communicationconnections, the computer program product comprising a computer readablestorage medium having program code embodied therewith, wherein thecomputer readable storage medium is not a transitory signal per se, andwherein the program code is readable and executable by a processor toperform a method comprising: receiving a message from a first party,wherein the message identifies a goal of the first party; receiving anidentity of a second party that has been selected by the first party toassist the first party in achieving the identified goal of the firstparty; creating an electronic communication connection for electroniccommunications between the first party and the second party, wherein theelectronic communications are related to accomplishing the goal of thefirst party; monitoring the electronic communications between the firstparty and the second party, wherein said monitoring executes messageanalytics to determine a status of the goal of the first party, andwherein the message analytics identifies key words in the electroniccommunications that are related to the goal of the first party; inresponse to determining that the goal of the first party has reached apredefined status, executing a predefined action that has beenassociated with the predefined status of the goal; and in response todetermining, by the monitoring computer system, that a quantity of keywords in the electronic communications between the first party and thesecond party falls below a predetermined frequency over a predefinedperiod of time, establishing a new electronic communication connectionbetween the first party and a third party that has been predetermined tobe able to assist the first party in reaching the goal of the firstparty.
 12. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein thepredefined action is to display the predefined status of the goal to thefirst party and to the second party.
 13. The computer program product ofclaim 11, wherein the predefined status is a completion of the goal, andwherein the method further comprises: disconnecting the electroniccommunication connection between the first party and the second party.14. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the messageanalytics identifies key words in the electronic communications that arerelated to the goal of the first party, and wherein the method furthercomprises: in response to determining that a quantity of the key wordsin the electronic communications between the first party and the secondparty falls below a predetermined frequency over a predefined period oftime, disconnecting the electronic communication connection between thefirst party and the second party.
 15. A computer system comprising: ahardware processor, a computer readable memory, and a computer readablestorage medium; first program instructions to receive a message from afirst party, wherein the message identifies a goal of the first party;second program instructions to receive an identity of a second partythat has been selected by the first party to assist the first party inachieving the identified goal of the first party; third programinstructions to create an electronic communication connection via asocial network for electronic communications between the first party andthe second party, wherein the electronic communications are related toaccomplishing the goal of the first party; fourth program instructionsto monitor the electronic communications between the first party and thesecond party, wherein said monitoring executes message analytics todetermine a status of the goal of the first party, and wherein themessage analytics identifies key words in the electronic communicationsthat are related to the goal of the first party; and fifth programinstructions to, in response to determining that the goal of the firstparty has reached a predefined status, execute a predefined action thathas been associated with the predefined status of the goal; sixthprogram instructions to, in response to determining that a quantity ofthe key words in the electronic communications between the first partyand the second party falls below a predetermined frequency over apredefined period of time, disconnect the electronic communicationconnection between the first party and the second party; and wherein thefirst, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth program instructions arestored on the computer readable storage medium and executed by theprocessor via the computer readable memory.
 16. The computer system ofclaim 15, wherein the predefined action is to display the predefinedstatus of the goal to the first party and to the second party.
 17. Thecomputer system of claim 15, wherein the predefined status is acompletion of the goal, and wherein the computer system furthercomprises: seventh program instructions to disconnect the electroniccommunication connection between the first party and the second party;and wherein the seventh program instructions are stored on the computerreadable storage medium and executed by the processor via the computerreadable memory.
 18. The computer system of claim 15, wherein themessage analytics identifies key words in the electronic communicationsthat are related to the goal of the first party, and wherein thecomputer system further comprises: seventh program instructions to, inresponse to determining that a quantity of key words in the electroniccommunications between the first party and the second party falls belowa predetermined frequency over a predefined period of time, establish anew electronic communication connection between the first party and athird party that has been predetermined to be able to assist the firstparty in reaching the goal of the first party; and wherein the seventhprogram instructions are stored on the computer readable storage mediumand executed by the processor via the computer readable memory.